NFL: Colts' Adam Vinatieri still kicking at age 40

Saturday

Dec 7, 2013 at 11:50 PMDec 8, 2013 at 12:37 AM

Rich Garven NFL

Tom Brady has publicly professed many times of his desire to play football until he's 40 years old. If he needs any insight into what it's like, it'll only take a quick phone call to an old friend to find out.

Ex-Patriot and current Colt kicker Adam Vinatieri will turn 41 on Dec. 28. The next day, the regular-season portion of his 18th year in the NFL will conclude.

According to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Vinatieri is one of 55 players in league annals to play past their 40th birthday. He's one of two active players in the league, the other being Redskins punter Sav Rocca.

It's been a long, wonderful journey with a final destination yet to be determined.

"It's not really work when you get to strap on a helmet and go out on a field and play a game you love to play," the always personable Vinatieri told the T&G after practice Thursday.

"There's nothing I'd rather be doing. I guess I haven't put a time on it. I feel as long as my body holds up and I can still do it at a high-enough level, I'll continue on."

The body is doing fine thanks to — in a concession to his age and occupation — regular visits to the training room for massages, soft tissue work, extra stretching, ice baths and hot tub plunges. It has paid off as Vinatieri remains a master craftsman.

He's made 26 of 29 field goal attempts this season, his success rate of 89.7 percent well above his career average of 83 percent.

Last week, he tied Jason Elam's league record of 16 seasons with 100-plus points and joined Morten Andersen as the only players to score at least 800 points with two teams.

Vinatieri scored a franchise-record 1,158 points for the Patriots from 1996 to 2005. He has added 810 points since joining the Colts seven years ago after the Patriots showed no interest in retaining him.

Vinatieri, a member of the NFL's 2000s all-decade team, ranks ninth all-time in scoring with 1,968 points.

"To be able to play long enough to be able to do that is great," Vinatieri said. "I really have to credit my offenses in New England and here with the Colts. When you score that many points after that many years, obviously your offenses are doing a good job.

"I don't pay a lot of attention to personal records and personal achievements like that. I think the most important record is your win-loss record."

The vast majority of the teams Vinatieri has played for have won way more than they've lost.

The Colts are 8-4 and in first place in the AFC South heading into today's game at Cincinnati. A playoff berth seems imminent, which would make 14 postseason invites in 18 seasons for Vinatieri.

Furthermore, Vinatieri has been a member of six teams that reached the Super Bowl. He has played in five championship games, winning four Lombardi Trophies (2001, '03, '04, '06 seasons).

"I look back at the two teams I've played for and all the great players along the way on those two teams — Drew Bledsoe, Tom Brady, Peyton Manning and now Andrew Luck," Vinatieri said, reeling off a ridiculous list of prolific passers.

"I know there are some good guys out there who have played their entire career and hardly get a sniff of the playoffs, and if they do, they don't go very far in them. For me, to be able to have been on teams that have done as wonderfully well as they have, gosh, I have to pinch myself sometimes."

Vinatieri cited that bucket load of Super Bowl appearances and triumphs as his proudest professional accomplishments along with two others.

One, tackling Hershel Walker during a kickoff return, was a play few remember, although it was significant because it famously led coach Bill Parcells to complement Vinatieri for being a football player rather than a kicker.

The other will never fade from history. That would be the 45-yard field goal Vinatieri kicked in a raging snowstorm following the fortuitous and favorable tuck ruling to send a divisional playoff game between the Patriots and Raiders to overtime in 2001.

"That was probably the most difficult kick I've ever had to face, so I think I'm pretty proud of that one," said Vinatieri, whose subsequent 23-yarder clinched a 16-13 win that changed the fortunes of a franchise.

Bill Belichick was recently asked if he still had an affinity for the Browns, who gave him his first head coaching job. The answer, in short form, was of course, but I've moved on and the Patriots are my new team.

The same goes for Vinatieri, who was an undrafted rookie out of South Dakota State when the Patriots retained him.

"New England will always have a special place in my heart, obviously, with the achievements that the team had while I was on it," Vinatieri said. "That never, ever goes away. The guys that played on those championship teams will always be my brothers, so to speak, and I appreciate who they are and what they stand for.

"Obviously, though, I've been in Indy for eight years. They're a big part of my life now, and moving forward, they're my team. I'm a diehard Colt, but I'll always have those fond memories of my time in New England."

Vinatieri's retirement plans include returning to New England to take in a Patriots game and catch up with old friends. The way things are going, you have to wonder whether Brady will still be around to greet him in the locker room.